2004 Hermann Donnhoff Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Spatlese A.P. #5

Explosive tropical palate (dominantly pineapple) balanced with mellow acidity. This is a decadently lush but not heavy Spatlese, with an amazing and complex finish that goes on and on. The nose is shy at first, then opening up nicely with elegant tropical notes that echo the palate. No petrol notes. A beautiful example of a top notch Nahe.

Day after Thanksgiving Wines

Day 2 on the magnum of 2006 Mas Doix Salanques (Priorat). Also opened a 2010 Quinta Sardonia to accompany the Salanques with dinner.

The "06 Salanques was as good, maybe better a bit, on day 2. But I dont think there's any reason to hold onto this for a lot longer.  Beautiful red berry (this is mostly Grenache) and smoothly burnished tannins. 

The '10 Quinta Sardonia ( Ribera del Duero) has improved dramatically over the past 2 years.  Pop and pour with decant.  This was the more popular of the two wines because of its complexity. Mostly Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon with the balance being Syrah, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec. It takes a few years for these components to meld. Once they do, the results are fascinating. This wine will be hitting peak drinking window in another 3 to 5 years perhaps. Peter Sisseck left the project, but Jerome Bougnaud is continuing on in fine fashion ...

Paired these with:
- sauteed crab cakes and grilled octopus in harrissa sauce as first course
- veal tortellini and sauteed spinach as second course

Thanksgiving Wines

The 2014 Chappaz Fendant was at a disadvantage being teed up next to the 2014 Lamy St. Aubin En Remilly. The Fendant was kind of a shrinking violet next to the crystalline beauty of the St. Aubin. Lamy is a reference point for that cru, IMO.

The 2010 DJP Beaune Clos de la Feguine was the clear standout of the pinot noirs. This has everything one might wish for in Beaune 1er cru..... Satiny morello cherry (more savory than tart) with irresistible sous bois, spice and mushroom accents. Delicious finish that that makes it hard to put down. This will only get more complex over time. A very well crafted monopole wine. 

The 2012 Anthill Farms Comptche Ridge showed well, if a bit young.  Nicely balanced, medium bodied with red fruit, spice and a slightly tart finish.

DDO Laurene is one of my favorite new world pinot noir's. The 2009 seemed a bit disjointed at first. Made in a lighter bodied style. It came together nicely about 2.5 hours later. Leaning more toward the black fruit spectrum. Savory forest floor and sweet spicey aromatics that provided a contemplative dimension to this wine later in the evening. 

The 2004 Gianni Brunelli BdM is a classic in the making.  It is very tasty, still a bit tight and could benefit from a few more years of cellaring...

Brought out a magnum of 2006 Mas Doix Salanques later in the evening as the dinner wines were finished up.  Pop and pour, this was a beauty right out of the gate. Deliciously mature red berry, finely polished tannins, smooth flowing palate. Nose that evokes the arid, rocky hillsides and beauty of the Priorat region complemented by cooling maritime breezes at night. Everything balanced and in harmony....  in a beautiful stage right now. A treat to enjoy this from magnum.  Very popular wine at the end of the evening.  

2013 Reinhold Haart Wintricher Ohligsberg Riesling Spatlese A.P. #14

PnP 7.0% abv

This disappeared all too quickly.  :) A very nice wine. Quite heady stuff.

Delicious blast of tropical fruit with a finely chiseled edge of acidity to balance things out. Savory ripeness and salinity. One of my favorite 2013's so far.  The intensity of fruit reminded me of the 2013 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg "Schmitt", yet it stops short of being an Auslese.

The nose is a bit shy but has alluring waft of petrol scent that is intoxicating...

Paired this with speck prior to dinner, and then stuffed pork chops with arancini...

Notes from the Mosel Fine Wines Report...

"...Johannes Haart replied with a short and to-the-point “surprisingly satisfied” to the question on his impression of the vintage before providing some explanation to this statement: “Honestly, I was fearing the worst when we came to the hot period of the harvest. We wanted to wait for the acidity to come down but we had no choice as the grapes, which are mostly trained on wire, started to take on a brown color, sometimes overnight (!) and this threatened to jeopardize our whole harvest. I would not have believed anyone who would have told me the delicious result we got out of those grapes! We did the harvest in two waves, a first Vorlese from October 15 to October 23, during which we brought in the bulk of the fruit, and then a
second, for the top wines, from October 27 until November 2, during which we also brought in a small amount of highly botrytized fruit. As a result, we were able to save some of the fruit and ended of course with low yields (of 40 hl/ha) but, at least, we had some yields! The fermentation (done with ambient yeasts) was quicker than usual. In order to give the wines more body, we decided to leave the dry wines on their fine lees, without sulfur, for a short period of time, and more generally left the wines longer than usual on their fine lees. Furthermore we only bottled between end of May and mid-June.” Theo Haart compares the vintage to his 1991 (“1991 was also quite high in acidity and we had some issues of rot … and at the end the vintage turned out much better than initially expected!”) while Johannes sees more parallels with their 1996 (NB: a quite successful vintage 
at this Estate)...."

The picture shows the Goldtröpfchen Amphitheatre with Ohligsberg to the right.

2012 Zilliken Forstmeister Geltz Saarburger Rausch Riesling "Diabas"

Very pretty, crisp feinherb (off-dry) style. Citrus and honeysuckle palate with mouthwatering salinity. Vacuvin'd and forgot about it for a week. Coming back to it, there are lovely hints of petrol on the nose.  Honeyed beeswax on the mid-palate and a superb pop of saline minerality on the finish.  Bravo!

NV Nathalie Falmet Le Val Cornet Brut

Disgorged October 2016. 12% abv. Zero dosage.

My first foray with this producer. Pop and pour. Blend of pinot noir and pinot meunier.

Impressive. Beautifully lithe, elegant palate is the first thing that strikes you. Very harmonious tonality. Crisp but not sharp. Simply dances on the tongue with tiny bubbles of red fruit (small berries, as Marius would say).  Saline minerality on the attractive dusty finish indicates an added degree of complexity in the offing with further cellaring.  This should go very well with food a bit later today. Honeyed, yeasty nose that is again finely presented....
......
A bit later...This is a delightful wine.  Settled into an irresistible groove of crystalline pleasure that reminded me of a great Chablis... possibly the influence of half the blend being pinot meunier... also being zero dosage contributes to the alluring dryness of the wine...

I think that Rob Lloyd mentioned his wife, Alice, being fond of pinot meunier based Champagne... if this Le Val Cornet is an indication of what that varietal can do, then I am a fan...

2007 Uccelliera, 2007 Cepparello, 2010 Cayuse Callioux

These three wines stood out at an informal dinner last Thursday night.  No particular theme (just bring a favorite wine).

The 2007 Uccelliera Brunello di Montalcino was double decanted into cleaned bottle.  It aerated in a decanter for a couple of hours. A wonderfully hedonistic wine without being over-the-top. Tannins have melted into the beginning of a prime drinking window on this wine.  The bouquet leaps forth ... savory sous bois notes mingling with alluring florals.  Black cherry, cedar, tobacco leaf, spice, faint anise. The impression is of high quality, luscious Sangiovese fruit from the vineyard handled with loving care. A very, very nice wine.

The 2007 Isole e Olena Cepparello was slow-o'd for about eight hours in bottle.  Always a favorite, this bottle is very tasty, but will improve over the next few years. Black fruit with more acidity than the Uccelliera. Unique espresso and spice component. Nose is a bit reticent at this stage. Provided an excellent counterpoint with more structure than the Uccelliera.

The 2010 Cayuse Callioux is a fascinating wine.  My experience with Cayuse has been limited to just pop and pour, which is a disservice to such a great wine IMO.  This one was a pop and pour as well, so it was pretty closed for the first hour.  Once it started to open up, I realized what a tribute to the Northern Rhone that Christophe Baron has crafted. Inky blackberry and mineral. Tellicherry pepper, lavender, hint of goudron. I would love to taste one of these wines next to a Chapoutier Le Pavillon. Interestingly, I did not get much impression of the Viognier that is co-fermented with the Syrah for the Callioux cuvee.  It seemed more Hermitage in nature than Cote-Rotie.  The Cayuse paired perfectly with wagyu steak. The 14.8% abv is somewhat surprising for such a beautifully balanced wine. (I would have guessed in the 13% abv range).

2015 Pieropan Soave Classico Calvarino

PnP 12.5% abv.  Green apple and subtle spice muskmelon with saline finish. Not complex. Would likely benefit from a few years of cellaring. Nice quaffable wine.

2014 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese A.P. #7

My first foray with this producer.  PnP with dinner.  Explosive burst of ripe pineapple fruit on the palate that is very pleasing and impressive in its depth. Glycerin mouthfeel with only modest level of acidity gives way to a somewhat hollow mid-palate, and clean but uncomplex finish.  Modest tropical nose with none of the petrol notes that I enjoy in Riesling. 
The wine's simplistic character may be due to the challenges of the 2014 vintage. Alternatively, its shyness could be indicative of youth, or perhaps going into a closed phase.

....great notes in the Mosel Fine Wine Report with Oliver Haag discussing the 2014 vintage:

"....Oliver Haag describes the 2014 autumn as being tough but with a happy end: “I hope not to have to work like mad like we had to do in 2014 or 2013 any time soon! Everything was actually looking fine until the autumn. Bud break was early, always good sign, and the summer was very nice, even if quite wet but not too wet to affect Riesling. The issue was the rain combined with warm temperatures at the beginning of October. 

Fortunately, the grapes were already ripe by then and we were able to start with the harvest right away. But we had to push the pedal to the metal to get through it and the 35-man strong harvest team grew to 50 by the end of the harvest, around October 23. The issue was that the selection had to be done in the vineyards. The grapes were splitting open in the buckets and any bad grape would immediately spoil a complete basket! ...."

2000 Calon Segur and 2002 Dunn Howell Mountain

Thanks to Scott Nelson for bringing these beautiful wines to dinner at Acqua Al 2 in Washington D.C. (located next to the Eastern Market in the Capitol Hill area).  Opened both wines at table, we decanted the Calon Segur and poured the Dunn Howell Mountain from bottle.

The Dunn was fairly ready to drink from the start and opened up quickly. 2002 has a reputation for being a supple, earlier drinking vintage in Napa, I believe.  Rich blackberry and cassis set with sweetly aged tannins. Nice finish with mellow plum and spice notes. Although not all that complex, it was the favorite wine of the group at dinner. 

The Calon Segur (St. Estephe) was tight, and started to open up after an hour in the decanter. It was my favorite wine of the two.  60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc. Let this sit open for a day if you try one.  It is still just a bit early in the drinking window. I drink Bordeaux infrequently so this was a real treat. Black cherry with really nice tobacco notes as it opened up over a couple of hours. Super tasty bit of minerality along with still firm, yet elegant tannins.  Paired incredibly well with filet mignon in a crazy good blueberry reduction (sounds weird but it was executed perfectly) and roasted garlic potatoes. 

The Dunn went better with the charcuterie plate at the beginning of the meal, which had an incredibly beautiful mortadella as a component. 

2006 Ornellaia

I rarely get a chance to taste this wine, so this was a treat.  Excellent showing just on the cusp of its drinking window. And what a gorgeous showing.  56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc, 5% Petit Verdot. 

Slow-o'd in bottle all day. The most impressive thing about this wine is the beautiful minerality coupled with the precise cut of high quality fruit.  It will be fascinating to see what this is like in 10 years.  The Cabernet Franc lends an interesting smoky component to the vibrant fresh black fruit.  The finish kept evolving over the evening, gaining in complexity.

Those seeking a jammy fruit experience will likely find this style too tightly wound.  Paired beautifully with grilled prime NY strip steaks and garlic risotto. 

Based on this experience, I am impressed by the wines from the Bolgheri region.  AG has an excellent write up on the history of the estate and detail on vinification methods. 

2006 Lopez de Heredia Vina Gravonia Blanco

It's been 15 months since I've checked in on this wine, and time in the cellar has greatly benefited it.  Last year, this was still teeth-clenchingly young. Now it is more harmonious with balanced fruit and acidity.... quite smooth yet with enough pucker power to keep things interesting. 

100% Viura from old vines grown on gravelly soils. Nutty, honeyed, slightly viscous mouthfeel.  Bright tropically-nuanced fruit with an incisive stony minerality on the finish. Easy drinking 12.5% abv.  Spicy, petrol-inflected florals on the nose.  I absolutely love the nose on this wine and how it sets up the unique palate. 

Lopez de Heredia white wines are brilliant  :) 

1996 Produttori del Barbaresco Riserva Pora

This bottle was clearly stored with care.  The wine is in excellent shape, and while very enjoyable now, will easily go another 10 years in prime drinking window.   :) 

Slow-o in bottle for 4 hours and the into decanter an hour before dinner.  Served with grilled bone-in veal chops, grilled asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes.

What a delight to drink this wine. Big fruit balanced with mouth-watering acidity.  The tannins have melllowed perfectly.  AG's notes indicate that the climate of the Pora vineyard is moderated by proximity to the Tanaro River and that perhaps this contributes to the juicy character of the fruit in a classic vintage like 1996. 

This example doesn't exhibit a tremendous amount of complexity, but is very pleasing to the palate.  Delicious, if a bit straightforward, finish with tar, spice and truffle notes. Not easy to find the 1996 PdB bottlings in the market but well worth picking up a few if you see them...

2014 Lise et Bertrand Jousset Montlouis-sur-Loire Premier Rendez-Vous

Drinking beautifully! Rich and unctuous mouthfeel. Decadent ripe pear that begs to be savored.  :) Almost Meursault - like in its intensity after a couple of hours of aeration.  Little hints of allspice and cinnamon add complexity to the finish. 

Notes from the winery:

"Chenin Blanc from two terroirs in Montlouis - 40 year-old vines on sand and silex soils over limestone and 70 year-old vines on clay/limestone soils, yields of 30 hl/ha, aged in 2 to 8 year-old large barrels..."

2012 Anthill Farms Pinot Noir Campbell Ranch (Sonoma Coast)

Slow-o for 3 hours prior to dinner. Bitter cherry, cola and a hint of fizziness. Promising but clearly needs to unfold.

Fast forward 3 hours later .... hold on a minute!  Where have I tasted this flavor profile before? Hmmmm.... Les Beaux Monts ? Yes, that's it!

Mellowed out a bit and now showing super attractive cherry fruit with sublimely elegant tartness that makes for mouth-watering anticipation.  The mid-palate doesn't disappoint .... the story continues to unfold with cola, anise and very subtle hints of pine.  Quite exotic character for a California pinot noir. Dusty tannins caress. Big flavor without weight. Just what one wants in a pinot noir.

 I believe that this is made using some percentage of whole clusters. Superb framework for this high quality effort.

Finished up the 2010 Albert Morot Beaune Toussaints next to this. One of the very few times that I havd enjoyed a Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir more than a bottling from the Cote d'Or ! 

Bravo to Messrs Web Marquez, Anthony Filiberti and Dave Low.  These gents are hitting all the right notes  :) 

Paired perfectly with grilled tuna, broccoli salad and roasted potatoes.

I have got to get more of this stuff ...

1996 Produttori del Barbaresco Riserva Montefico

Have been enjoying relatively older vintages of Produttori del Barbaresco Riserva Cru's from 1996, 1997 and 2001.

Double decanted back into clean bottle for dinner later foday.  I don't have much experience with Montefico cru, but based on this bottle, count me as a fan...

Underscoring the adage, "there are no great wines, only great bottles "... this one is at a beautiful peak right now... gorgeous perfumed florals leaped from the bottle on pulling the cork. Completely irresistible fruit with that inner sweetness that we all look for. Tannins have melted into a lovely lithe framework.... kaleidoscopic, yet very elegant, notes of balsam, truffles, sous bois. Oh yes, this is a good one  :) 

here are interesting notes from John Gilman on Montefico cru published in 2009...

"...my mind, the Montefico takes third place in the hierarchy of the very best crus at the Produttori, for after the Asili and the Rabajà, this has consistently been the most complete and complex of the single vineyard bottlings that I have tasted from this fine winery. As I noted above, most commentators on Piemonte wines would rank Montestefano just a bit ahead of Montefico (though Montefico’s reputation is also excellent), but based on the breadth of these tastings I attended in preparation for this article, I have to give the slight nod to Montefico for its superb elegance and complexity. While Montefico also lies along the Neive border, just a few hundred kilometers to the north of Montestefano, Montefico is the quintessentially elegant Barbaresco cru, with more perfume and a tad more breed than its powerful neighbor to the south. Across the border in Neive from Montefico lies the superb cru of Gallina. As noted above, at one time this beautiful vineyard was owned in its entirety by Domizio Cavazza, founder of the oenological school at Alba and widely regarded as the “Father of Barbaresco”.

            Like Montestefano, the vast majority of Montefico’s vines enjoy a direct, southerly exposure. But the exposure is a bit more southeasterly on the western end of the vineyard, and the hillside starts to swing around towards a southwesterly exposition as the vineyard nears the border with Neive. The ridge that houses Montefico is a bit less tall than Montestefano’s hill, with its peak elevation at 250 meters above sea level. The Produttori has only made a Montefico cru since 1982, when two cousins from the Rocca family decided to join up with the cooperative and brought along their fine holdings in this vineyard. This makes the Produttori’s Montefico one of the most limited of their cru bottlings, as annual production in a high quality vintage is only five hundred (twelve bottle) cases of this lovely wine. Like Montestefano, Montefico tends to deliver a wine of beautiful fruit tones, which start out quite black fruity in the wines youth, but which can pick up some red fruity tones in certain vintages as it ages. It often delivers the finest soil transparency of any of the crus in the Produttori’s lineup (outside of Asili), and this is often synthesized with beautiful notes of truffles, porcini, tobacco and autumnal notes. It is a beautifully poised and refined Barbaresco cru, and one of the great Piemonte vineyards. Montefico can often be so superbly balanced when it is young that it gives off the impression of early drinkability, but to my mind it needs every bit as much time as Montestefano to really blossom, and is a very long-lived cru as well...."

2010 Domaine Albert Morot Beaune Toussaints

Slow-o in bottle for a few hours before dinner.  Shy nose at first, slowly opening up with subtle spice notes. 
Pleasing minerally red cherry with a sweetness to the tannins (compliments of the beautiful 2010 vintage), accompanied by a nice touch of sous bois.
Gaining in presence with dinner, with more tartness coming to fore. Paired nicely with Poulet Dijon, broccoli - pear salad, risotto, and artichoke salad. 
Not the last word in complexity at this stage, but definitely worth a try now. Domaine Albert Morot has always provided great value in 1er Cru Burgundy.

1996 Produttori del Barbaresco Riserva Rio Sordo

Double-decanted back into clean bottle. Minimal very fine grained sediment.  Aerated in decanter for a couple of hours. 

Irresistible floral nose right out of the gate. This could he mistaken for a fine Premier Cru Burgundy in a blind tasting, except that the tell-tale balsamic and truffle notes on the finish give it away as Piemonte. 

Beautiful tertiary development. There is nothing quite like the deliciously sweet tannins of a great older Barbaresco. Impressive balance between fruit and acidity make it incredibly food friendly.  Paired with calamari first couse followed by griiled mahi mahi and fresh crab and potato "dressing". 

For me, the 1996 vintage in Barbaresco has achieved the potential that the 1996 vintage for Red Burgundy never quite lived up to... 

2009 Thomas Pinot Noir Dundee Hills

Ready to go right out of gate with an intriguingly elegant floral nose. Slow o'd in bottle for a couple of hours before dinner. This 2009 vintage has entered prime drinking window. 

Strikingly beautiful Balaton cherry fruit with tartness that has mellowed perfectly with noteworthy balance. Delcious complexity on the finish with this amazing nutmeg, allspice, sous bois thing that takes the experience to another level for new world pinot noir.

Paired perfectly with Ahi tuna poke followed by grilled double cut bone-in pork chop, grilled asparagus spears, mashed potatoes 

My understanding is that Dundee Hills is principally volcanic terroir (Jory soils?), however I think that John Thomas' vineyard is situated on sedimentary Willakenzie soil. Perhaps someone with more in depth local knowledge of geography and geology can elucidate.

In any case, I am very happy to have had the chance to enjoy some of this amazing juice produced by an icon of Oregon winemaking. Would love to visit Willamette Valley wine country some day. (Perhaps this fall !)

Rochioli, Chevillon and Egly-Ouriet

Leonard and Jill Taylor hosted dinner on Saturday at their house, and what a magnificent repast it was. First course of smoked salmon. The highlight was that Jill prepared an incredibly tasty slow-cooked pork shoulder (local farm sourced) accompanied an off-the-charts delicious succotash casserole and kale salad.  Dessert was a soul-fufilling melted brie with scratch-made pecan glaze. On to the wines...

NV Egly-Ouriet Grand Cru Blanc de Noirs Les Crayeres (disgorged July 2011).  
Still a youngster.  It took the better part of an hour for it to begin to reveal its character. Beguilingly attractive nose, more fruit dominant character than toast/biscuit/leesy character. Flavors are influenced at first by a slightly bitter (fruit pit) and saline mineral profile, which calms down over the course of a couple of hours. Gradually, tropical fruit comes front and center, with notes of orange and hazelnut.  An impressively precise cut informs the palate.  The Les Crayeres pedigree is fully showcased.  Quite a bit less developed than the Egly-Ouriet VP (disgorged May 2007) that we had last year.  These are long-lived wines.

2008 Rochioli Chardonnay Sweetwater Vineyard Russian River Valley
I recuse myself on this one. Something happened to my palate several years ago, becoming hyper-sensitive to oak influence on Chardonnay, which renders many fine California Chardonnay undrinkable for me.  Kind of a bummer. Tastes change. Maybe mine will swing back at some point...

2002 Domaine Robert Chevillon Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Roncieres 1er Cru
Taught and wiry upon opening.  Double decanted back into clean bottle (although not really necessary from a sediment perspective... just needed aeration).  It took several hours for this to unwind. But once it did, there was a nice high-toned, cherry influenced fruit profile with subtle minerality. (Although quite reticent nose). Sweet caressing texture of mellowed tannins that is very welcoming.  Not manifesting a lot of sous bois or earthy elements at this stage. Give this lots of air.  A nice counter-point to the Rochioli pinot noirs.

2008 Rochioli Pinot Noir Little Hill Vineyard Russian River Valley 
The bigger of the two Rochioli pinot noirs this evening. Characteristic robustness of the 2008 vintage. Very good wine but not as refined as the 2008 West Block that we had last year. Fleshier with less precision, but still very pleasing. Fruit tends more toward the black cherry end of the spectrum complemented by a nice sous bois and spice character with an attractive nose. I think this would perhaps benefit from more cellar time to bring out interesting tertiary development.

2010 Rochioli Pinot Noir Sweetwater Vineyard Russian River Valley 
More elegant and balanced than than '08 Little Hill.  I definitely think that this one has some deft Fred Astaire character where we'll see some lovely dancing on the palate in a few years. Polished fruit leaning into the high-pitched Ponchatoula strawberry spectrum. Anise and forest floor accents. Quite pleasing bouquet at this stage.

2012 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Summa Vineyard Old Vines
This is a blockbuster. Not your grandfather's pinot noir. Bold, extracted and long life ahead. I don't have much experience with this heralded Thomas Rivers Brown marque. This one took the longest to show its stuff over the course of the evening.  Fruit more toward the blackberry end of the spectrum with a savory tartness. Cacao and toffee inflected notes with a spiciness that perhaps indicates some percentage of whole cluster. I think this old vines cuvee may be sourced from the orginal Summa Vineyard plantings circa 1980 near the town of Occidental, possibly using Swan clonal material. @"David Zajac" may be able provide more detail as I believe he has been collecting River-Marie pinot noir for a number of years.

2014 Peake Ranch Pinot Noir John Sebastiano Vineyard Santa Rita Hills
Paul Lato is the winemaker for this label owned by John Wagner.   Very approachable and burgundian styled. Lithe, alluring aromatics of lavender and spice. Possibly the most attractive nose of any of the pinot noir we enjoyed this evening.  Medium weight red fruit dances on the palate with anise and sandalwood accents. An impressive showing. 

2013 Rotie Cellars Grenache Little G
This came out later on in the evening.  My first experience with this Washington state producer. A quaffable wine, although I am not sure I would have guessed it was grenache if served blind. Smooth, vanilla accented fruit but somewhat lacking in texture/depth. Doesn't have the minerality I look for in a southern Rhone styled wine. Bigger than a Cote-du-Rhone but not on a scale with a good Chateauneuf-du-Pape. 
Of course, this was very late in the evening so I could have quite a different perspective on day 2.  Has anyone else had experience with Rotie Cellars?  The big draw from this house seems to be the Homage bottling, which is mostly Mourvedre.